Defends Animal Control chief

By Editor, The Chronicle

Recent comments by Mary Kathleen Blanchard and other letter writers to your publication are wrong about Jim Larmer.

I first became a friend of Mr. Larmer over 20 years ago when he was an administrative noncommissioned officer assigned to Eisenhower Hospital at Fort Gordon. He was very successful in his position and was expecting future promotions when he had a heart attack and was discharged from the Army for medical reasons. ...

During the 19 years that Mr. Larmer has worked at the animal shelter, he has worked diligently in serving the community of Augusta-Richmond County. Not only has he provided assistance to animals in need, but he also assisted residents who were frightened by snakes, captured steers which had broken loose from their pasture, drove off swarming bees, searched for wild animals that threatened residential areas and did other tasks too numerous to mention.

Animal lovers, your complaints against Mr. Larmer are misdirected. The location of our Animal Control building and its history can tell you a lot about the source of its problems. The building is a dilapidated "throw away" building that was assigned for animal control at the Richmond County dump where you throw away waste. Richmond County never provided adequate funding for housing and feeding the animals nor has it provided for adequate staffing.

Rather than firing Mr. Larmer, I think the people of Augusta should honor him. We should demand that a modern animal control unit be built to meet the needs of animals in crisis. We should provide the appropriate funding for staffing and equipping such a unit. Why not use Mr. Larmer's knowledge and wisdom to determine how to accomplish these pursuits?